Dorfler - Prussian Infantry

Some years ago I was offered a group of figures made by Dorfler in the 1920's, one of the less well known German manufacturers.  I think they have a certain charm of their own and thought it was time to give them an airing, so here they are:

These examples tip the scales at 60mm to the top of the pickelhaube but there was also a smaller range at 54mm, they carry no makers mark but are instantly recognisable by the distinctive hexagonal/diamond shape of the base.

German made solid lead figures tended to be cast with a generic body and separate head, which plugged into it, while accoutrements such as rifles, flags etc which were soldered onto the hands, the soft lead arms being bent into the required position to hold them.  This allowed greater variety of poses in a set, also with different paint schemes, heads and equipment the armies of other nations could be produced, a practice also common with the manufacturers of composition figures.

These Dorfler figures are single piece castings, the heads and accoutrements being integral to the body, the three poses are individual sculpts; marching at the slope was cast with arm holding rifle out to the left of the body then bent into position, same for the bugler and officer except that the bugle arm and sword arms were cast out to the right and bent in towards the body, the officer figure was also sculpted with epaulettes. 

The Lexicon der Deutschen Blechspielzeug-Industrie (Encyclopedia of the German Tin Toy Industry) tells us that the firm was founded by Hans Dorfler of Furth in 1904 making tin rattles, music boxes, trumpets and drinking cups.  In 1921 the owner is stated as Rosa Dorfler who continued the pervious product lines but added toy soldiers, the business closed in 1935, so we have a fairly good indication of their age, not looking too bad for close to 100 years old.

Lexikon der Deutschen Blechspielzeug-Industrie

 Mentioned in the post above this is my go-to reference source for German toys Ostensibly tinplate manufacturers but most of them were more general toymakers, it spans 200 years of production drawing on trade directories, catalogues, contemporary newspapers and toy collections from several national archives, it includes literally thousands of firms and is a truly monumental work.

Privately published in 2014 by the authors, Jurgen and Marianne Cieslik, it runs to 500 12"x10" pages, text in German and fully illustrated in colour throughout.  ISBN 3-921844-73-8.  I was fortunate to find my copy in an Oxfam (charity) bookshop for £20.

The pic above gives an idea of the layout.  This entry for Lineol opens with the three goosestepping ducks which was the prewar company logo.

I had to get the picture of this Marklin armoured car in for the distinctive, rather psychedelic, mimikry/camouflage  pattern which was extensively used by the firm and makes their products instantly recognisable.

The entry for GAMA (George Adam MAngold) shows the development of advertising styles pre and post war with changes to the company's logo which helps with dating production.  I rather like the Montage Tank (top right) supplied in kit form for home assembly, the rubber tracks were common to all makes of tinplate tanks and utilised timing bands which were used extensively on factory machinery worldwide during the mechanical age.  Today the original tank tracks are invariably brittle and crumbling but can be replaced as timing bands are still used in industry, but less so in this digital age and now the problem is finding the right size.

Another display case filled.

 Finally got around to rehoming the collectable English plastic figures in a display case where they will be relatively safe from damage.  There is no real order to this, more a case of getting stuff out of the boxes they've been shunted around in for the last several years and standing them up so I can see what I've got, it's part of the separation between collectables for research and wargame armies for play.  There will be changes, some added to the shelves and others relegated back to the boxes but for now it's a step in the right direction.

The cabinet was one of those rather naff 1920's deco display units that my aunts used to keep their best china in, the stuff that was for show and never got used from one end of the year to the next, I think every house had one in the 1950's and I never liked them.  But this one was abandoned in the back of a junk shop in need of a complete overhaul and cost me nothing (someone said they'd pay me to take it away).  After stripping the crazed varnish, re-glazing the doors, fixing mirror tiles to the back and adding all new glass shelves (so not such a bargain after all!) it now occupies a suitable niche in the Toy Soldierarium (my wife's term not mine). 

I will get around to putting up clearer pics of individual figures at some pint but in the meantime here are a few random closeups:

 

Viva la Revolution!

 For a while now I've had a yen to do some figures for the Mexican Revolution......but which one?  There were so many, and with so many different factions, so I decided to make a generic army that could be used for any uprising over the roughly 1880-1920 period.  I made a start earlier this year:

The plan is to have a largely irregular force encompassing Mexican patriots, impoverished farmers, vengeful Apaches, emancipated slaves, Yankee adventurers and perhaps a few mercenaries.  So there's a lot of scope for fun conversions and a large range of suitable western figures to draw on for them. The examples shown here were were made from toys by several manufacturers including Crescent, Jean Hoefler, Dulcop and BMC.

I see the project unfolding as a sort of "Back of Beyond" scenario, only set in Americas back yard rather than the wilds of Central Asia.  My friend Matt Thair who runs White Tower Miniatures has also just brought out a range of new metal figures for this period so I'm hoping there will be a resurgence of interest.

A Medieval host at the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 You never know what will turn up at the PW Show each year, it's a perfect mélange of toy soldiers, all scales large and small, collectable rarities rub shoulders with terrible tat, it's anybody's game and it's always a lot of fun.  I never go with any expectation of what I might find, mostly I'm looking out for figures to flesh out my 54mm toy soldier wargame armies and this year there was a bumper crop of Medievals:

I'm always in the market to buy knights converted by Vince Mattocks, these ones were commissioned from him by an old friend of mine, Dave McKenna, who sold his entire toy soldier collection last year and I have been picking up tranches of them as they have become available.  I mention this just to give the provenance to these fine figures for whoever might own them in the future.

Much of the collection has been shown here in the previous posts covering our Lionheart wargames (see link in the Labels column on the right), the personalities are all conversions and painted in the correct liveries, the men at arms shown here are mostly unconverted.

I'd already had the pick of the collection last year then the seller found another box unexpectedly and offered them to me as a clearance lot, they worked out at about 40p each which was well worth it for the amount of time I saved in painting and research.

Vince marks all of his conversions with a stylised Vm and adds the date he made them, he also gives the name of the personage portrayed and marks them E or F to indicate English or French.  They are mostly 100 Years War but some are Wars of the Roses, there was bound to be some overlap, so now I need to list them and see who I've got!

Another converter who's work I always look out for is Eric Kemp, and his figures have graced many a post on this blog.  Several of Eric's collections were on offer and I picked examples from three of them to help rekindle inspiration and kickstart a couple of my own projects which have gone off the rails recently. 

I always enjoy working out what the donor figures were for conversions and seeing how they've been reconfigured, I particularly liked the two slingers in the picture above, a common troop type but sadly neglected by the toy soldier manufacturers.

For some time I've been quietly squirrelling away the raw material for a Renaissance period collection, Eric's painting style is very distinctive and make his conversions instantly recognisable, which is helpful as he doesn't sign his work.

Another three of Eric's Normans will be joining my Dark Ages armies which are nearing completion now.